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Saturday 30 July 2011

Twelfth Night in Rendlesham Forest


REVIEW: TWELFTH NIGHT at Rendlesham Forest Centre
Families happily picnicking, blankets strewn beneath the pines, the enticing scent of a barbeque on the fresh evening air, frolicking children and Elizabethans with archaic greetings; it is the atmospheric Rendlesham Forest setting which lends this show its enchantment. Played on a stage in a clearing in the wood, this production of Twelfth Night marks the twelfth consecutive year of Red Rose Chain Shakespeares here.
The reason for the endurance of these productions is clear; Red Rose’s Twelfth Night is captivating, an introduction to Shakespeare, light-hearted entertainment for children, a vibrant adaptation for the more seasoned theatre-goer. All things to all men. But it’s not just intellectually stimulating. There is a real sense of magic in the air, the stage-enclosing branches and trunks of verdant pines, the creeping dusk falling on the players and peeping stars above, surreal glimpses of top-hatted Malvolio striding in the forest beyond as the offstage players flit between the trees.
Malvolio is undoubtedly the star of this show; ridiculously “cross-gartered” in a yellow and black striped one-piece, his dignity sacrificed for the love of his mistress, Olivia. Indeed its hard to drag one’s gaze from the gawky Edward Bean’s perfectly executed physical comedy. Against this the romance of the tale, and the rest of the cast, take a back seat. It’s a sensible decision on the part of director Joanna Carrick, to focus on the laughs from a family-dominated audience, but I could not help but feel that a bit of love had been lost.
This is really the only criticism I can find. Twelfth Night is an extremely enjoyable performance. The set is delightful; two beach huts, Orsino’s purple and Olivia’s red, with bunting laced between them, and a wooden rowing boat to one side. There’s exquisite animal puppetry of cawing seagulls and the three-manned dog, some punchy songs and comic audience interaction. Twelfth Night is a cracking show in a beautiful location. Take the kids, the grannies and the picnic for a night of magic and laughter.

"Twelfth Night" is playing at Rendlesham Forest Centre until August 28th. For tickets and more information see http://www.redrosechain.com/page/12th-night-home

Thursday 21 July 2011

The Golden Bird by George Mackay Brown

BOOK REVIEW: The Golden Bird by George Mackay Brown


Poetic simplicity characterises Brown’s style in these tales of the Orkney islands and their hardy, pragmatic inhabitants. A masterful storyteller, Brown chronicles a people confronted with the gradual encroach of modernity, feuds which transcend generations, and the trials and tribulations of family honour. This is a subtle, beautifully-drawn portrait of the islands, rugged land and “wrinkled sea”; nature becomes as much a character as the down-to-earth islanders. The Golden Bird is at heart about the relationship of a people to its land. They live and they die, respectful yet uncowed by the power of the unchanging rocks and sea. The human stories weave together, love vying with loss, but behind them Brown conjures the constant lull of the sea, the call of skuas. He has created a touching memory-book of the islands, charmingly beautiful, yet tinged with the sadness of cultural loss, of a people changed. A soulful, intimate read.

Saturday 16 July 2011

Edinburgh, City of Festivals

Just a few weeks from now I'll be chugging out of Kings Cross on my way to the biggest arts extravaganza in the world. The summer months see Edinburgh transformed into a City of Festivals, a sort of cultural marathon, a veritable endurance contest for the thousands of tourists, students, reviewers and journalists. Competition is fierce; accommodation, affordable transport, decent tickets and elbow room are in limited supply. Of course all of this does little to dissuade the flocks of culture vultures.

For me "the Festival" has always been something of a mystery, a confusing, messy, explosion of art, plays, music, dance, street entertainment and book readings.  Probably important, then, that I get to the bottom of this before I actually pitch up in the city. What exactly is it all about? What is the essence of the Edinburgh Festivals? It turns out Edinburgh actually hosts ten summer festivals running right through from the children's theatre festival, Imaginate, beginning in May and ending with the International Story-telling Festival in October. There's the International Film Festival in June and the Jazz and Blues in July, while August is crammed with the  Art Festival, the Tattoo, the Fringe, the International Festival and the Book Festival. Five in one month!

So where did all this cultural excess begin?  Well the first Festival was held in 1947, hot on the heels of the close of the Second World War. There were hopes it would envigorate Scotland's cultural scene and provide somewhere for culture to blossom after the dull and heavy years of war. In those days there were just two, the International Festival and the Fringe. The Fringe actually came about as a result of eight theatre companies who turned up uninvited to the main festival, intending to take advantage of the big crowds the main event would draw, and to offer them an alternative range of performances. The spirit of openness and variety of performances that we see today has clear roots in these early days. An important part of "the Festival" is the productions put on by the smaller, less-established theatre companies and those created by so-called amateur groups. Encouraging new theatre makers through the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is essential, and its obvious that this is a result of the bold initiative of those original eight "Fringe" companies. Many writers and productions started out at the Fringe; 1966 saw the first full length performance of Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, while comedians Rory Bremner and Steve Coogan were both "discovered" performing in Edinburgh.

So what will 2011 hold for festival-goers? There's the usual hype, of course, with various publications putting out listings of "must-see" events. It's not hard to see why you would simply choose from one of these. The sheer number of events to trawl through is staggering. The Fringe alone boasts over two thousand shows. In the end what you choose will inevitably be something of a lucky dip, whether it be Shakespeare, ancient Greek plays, modern dance or classical music. But in the end that in itself is part of the experience. It should be unpredictable, sometimes wonderful, sometimes less impressive. The Festivals are a reflection of human nature, that abstract quality that we can never quite pin down. Art is about what it is to be human; it can be brilliant, but it can also be dull. I'm not going to make suggestions about what you should see, I'm finding it hard enough to decide myself. My advice is just use your instinct. Pick things you like the sound of. It might be the next big thing, or it might not. But it will still be an experience you won't easily forget.